NOTE - After
19 years online, HomeOfHeroes.com may soon close it's doors.

Many of the HERO STORIES, history,
citations and other information detailed in this website are, at least for now,
available in PRINT or DIGITAL format from AMAZON.COM. The below comprise the nearly
4-dozen "Home Of Heroes" books currently available.

Your HomeOfHeroes CONTENT & Navigation is below the following
Advertisement.

Medal
of Honor Books

This series of books contains the citations for ALL
Medals of Honor awarded to that branch of service, with brief biographical data and photos
of many of the recipients. Some of them also include citations for other awards, analysis
of awards, data tables and analysis and more. These are LARGE volumes, each 8 1/2" x
11" and more than 500 pages each. Click on a book to find it on Amazon.com where you
can find more details on what is contained in each book, as well as to get a free preview.
Each volume is $24.95.

These books contain the citations for nearly all of the awards of the Silve
Star and higher to members of each branch of service in the War on Terrorism. Books
include photos of most recipients, some biographical data, analysis of awards by rank,
unit, date, and more.

ENCYCLOPEDIA
of AMERICAN MILITARY HEROES

With the 5 Medal of Honor volumes
above, these compilations comprise a virtual 28-volume ENCYCLOPEDIA of decorated American
heroes(15,000 pages) with award citations, history, tables & analysis, and
detailed indexes of ACEs, FLAG OFFICERS, and more. (Click on any book to see it in
Amazon.com - $24.95 Each Volume)

Jewish
War Veterans salute local winnersof the Congressional Medal of Honor

By Donald H. Harrison

The Jewish War Veterans of San Diego honored three local
Congressional Medal of Honor winners, who in turn listened attentively to a
letter written by retired U.S. Army Col. Jack Jacobs, the nation's only living
Congressional Medal of Honor winner who is Jewish.

The patriotic, interdenominational ceremony was held
Thursday, June 13, on the eve of Flag Day, at the Veterans Memorial Center
Museum, which once served as a chapel for Jews, Catholics and Protestants at
the Navy's Balboa Medical Center.

The
local honorees included a World War II veteran, retired Navy Lt. John William
Finn who at 92 is the oldest Congressional Medal of Honor recipient still
alive, and two veterans of the Vietnam War, retired Marine Maj. Robert
Modrzejewski and retired Army Spec. 4th Class John P. Baca. Jacobs, one of 14
Jews known to have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor from the
Civil War through the present, had been invited to the ceremony, but had to
decline because of a business engagement in London. The Vietnam War hero sent
a letter to be read at the gathering by Abe Baum, a retired Army major who is
a recipient of the nation's second-highest decoration -- the Distinguished
Service Cross -- for bravery during World War II.

"The United States of America has been the most
successful political experiment in history because we began with two great
concepts: equality and freedom," Jacobs wrote.

"These precepts attracted those who suffered
oppression and slavery and mistreatment in places that they called home. They
attracted, among others, the Jews who, even as early as the birth of this
nation, paid in money and blood to bring life to the flame of liberty.

"They -- and we -- were willing to pay this price
because we know first-hand that there is nothing as horrid as oppression and
nothing as lovely as equality and freedom."

While
advising South Vietnamese troops, Jacobs suffered a head wound from Viet Cong
fire during an engagement on March 9, 1968, in Kien Phong Province.
Nevetheless, Jacobs, "with complete disregard for his safety, returned
under intense fire to evacuate a seriously wounded advisor to the safety of a
wooded area where he administered lifesaving first aid," according to his
Medal of Honor citation.

"He then returned through heavy automatic weapons
fire to evacuate the wounded company (2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry, 9th
Infantry Division, Army of the Republic of Vietnam). Capt. (then 1st Lt.)
Jacobs made repeated trips across the fire-swept open rice paddies, evacuating
wounded and their weapons. On three separate occasions, Capt. Jacobs contacted
and drove off Viet Cong squads who were searching for allied wounded and
weapons, singlehandedly killing three and wounding several others.

"His gallant actions and extraordinary heroism
saved the lives of one U.S. advisor and 13 allied soldiers. Through his effort
the allied company was restored to an effective fighting unit. ... Capt.
Jacobs, by his gallantry and bravery in action in the highest traditions of
the military service, has reflected great credit upon himself, his unit, and
the U.S. Army."

According to an exhibit created by Ralph Leventhal,
commander of JWV's Department of California, who attended the ceremony, other
Jews to have won the Medal of Honor and the years of their heroism were:
Benjamin Levy, 1862; David Urbansky, 1862-63; Leopold Karpeles, 1864; Abraham
Cohn, 1864; Simon Suhler, 1868; Samuel Marguiles, 1915; Sydney Gumpertz, 1918;
Benjamin Kaufman, 1918; William Sawelson, 1918; Ben. L. Salomon, 1944 (awarded
posthumously earlier this year); Raymond Zussman, 1944; Isadore Jachman, 1945,
and John Lee Levitow, 1969.

In the letter read to the affirmative head-nods of his
fellow medal winners, Jacobs said: "If I have an enduring recollection of
my time in combat, it is a combination of fear and love. There is nothing that
fans the flame of fear more than the violence of combat and the expectation of
imminent death, and there is no love like that for the buddies who share the
hell of fighting and the exalted mission of defense.

"I believe that extraordinary events are shaped by
ordinary people doing only what they believe is right. When circumstances are
difficult, I think that all who lose liberty motivate themselves with the
strength of Hillel's observation: OIf not you, who? If not now, when?² This
is what arms people in combat, when fear is unquenchable, pain unbearable,
sadness overwhelming."

Each of the three Medal of Honor winners at the ceremony
could relate personally to Jacobs' observations. Finn won his medal for
returning enemy fire during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
"Although painfully wounded many times, he continued to man this
(50-caliber machine gun) and with telling effect throughout the enemy strafing
and bombing attacks and with complete disregard for his personal safety,"
his citation said.

Modrzejewski,
during the Vietnam War, also was wounded, yet "crawled 200 meters to
provide critically needed ammunition to an exposed element of his command and
was constantly present wherever the fighting was heaviest, despite numerous
casualties, a dwindling supply of ammunition and the knowledge they were
surrounded." Over and over he was able to call in air strikes at close
range to repel the enemy.

Baca led his rifle team to assist a platoon that had
come under fire. "As they prepared to engage the enemy, a fragmentation
grenade was thrown into the midst of the patrol. Fully aware of the danger to
his comrades, Sp4c Baca unhesitatingly, and with complete disregard for his
own safety, covered the grenade with his steel helmet and fell on it as the
grenade exploded, thereby absorbing the lethal fragments and concussion with
his body..."

Rabbi Arthur Zuckerman of Congregation Beth Am, a
veteran of the Israeli Defense Forces, said prior to delivering the evening's
invocation that he felt humbled to be in the presence of such men.
International esteem for their bravery also was indicated by the presence at
the ceremonies by approximately 30 Russian Jewish veterans of World War II and
spouses, now living in San Diego.

There is a tradition in the military that no matter what
the rank of a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, low or high, he is to be
saluted, even by generals or admirals. In a remarkable ceremony arranged by
Cmdr. Mort Vogelson of JWV's Harry Apelman San Diego Post 185, there were
numerous stirring moments.

Watching the old heroes come to attention and place
their hands over their hearts as a color guard unit from the Marine Corps
Recruit Depot formally paraded the American flag was one such moment.

Another came after the ceremony, when musicians from the
Marine Corps Brass Quintet from MCRD came to stiff attention and saluted the
heroes, then filed by them, one by one, clearly glad for the privilege of
shaking their hands.